« "Refine" the Debate: Arguing Smarter, Again | Karl the Marxist's Blog | Concentrate on the Quid Pro Quo, not the Rocchios »
A Thousand Times No: The Surge Has Not Worked. Why Are We Accepting the Right-Wing Framing?
The surge <em>has not worked</em>. You are allowing McCain to frame the issue as if the point of the surge was reduction of violence.
You are allowing McCain to get away with the fact that the surge has gone on three times as long as it was supposed to.
You are allowing McCain to get away with the fact that to support the surge, the soldiers have been asked to give more and more with extended tours and recalls and that their families are bearing the burden for it.
You are allowing McCain to get away with the fact that troops are still being killed.
You are allowing McCain to get away with saying we need to "win" in Iraq without asking what "winning" is, every single time.
But most importantly, you are allowing McCain to get away with the fact that the entire point of the surge, facilitating political reconciliation, has not transpired! I think we are still well under half of the "benchmarks" set for <em>a year ago</em>.
The surge, which McCain pretends to have been his accomplishment, is a miserable failure.
You are allowing McCain to get away with the fact that the surge has gone on three times as long as it was supposed to.
You are allowing McCain to get away with the fact that to support the surge, the soldiers have been asked to give more and more with extended tours and recalls and that their families are bearing the burden for it.
You are allowing McCain to get away with the fact that troops are still being killed.
You are allowing McCain to get away with saying we need to "win" in Iraq without asking what "winning" is, every single time.
But most importantly, you are allowing McCain to get away with the fact that the entire point of the surge, facilitating political reconciliation, has not transpired! I think we are still well under half of the "benchmarks" set for <em>a year ago</em>.
The surge, which McCain pretends to have been his accomplishment, is a miserable failure.
Advertisement
I apologize. I will try to convince people otherwise. Forgive my failure.
July 26, 2008 9:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
One should always use caution when writing in the second person declarative. Do all your readers really deserve to be tarred with the same brush?
How many of the readers, how many of the editors of here at TPM are letting John McCain get away with anything? Most of what I've read today seems to indicate quite the opposite.
Perhaps English is your second language....
July 26, 2008 9:46 PM | Reply | Permalink